How do Christians read into this elaborate story about the fall of Satan without filling in the blanks?

Question

It seems an aweful lot of reading into and really stretching the interpretation of bible references for their story of Lucifer and his realm of hell.

If it's in Revelations: that's supposed to be future, not "past", correct.

Anywhere else it was meantioned it seems quite a bit of liberty was taken reading into it and filling in the blanks.

Also, based on the bible: is Satan in Hell now? Is hell in existence now or later? Based on the bible, it says hell was created then, not in the future. What is your interpretation?

Answer 1

In ancient Jewish tradition Satan is simply an angel doing the work that God assigned to Satan to do.

The word Satan means challenger. With the idea of Satan challenging us, or tempting if you will. This description sees Satan as the angel who is the embodiment of man's challenges. This idea of Satan works closely with God as an integral part of Gods plan for us. His job is to make choosing good over evil enough of a challenge so that it becomes clear to us that there can be only one meaningful or logical choice.

Contrast this to Christianity, which sees Satan as God's opponent. In Jewish thought, the idea that there exists anything capable of setting itself up as God's opponent would be considered polytheistic or setting up the devil to be an equally powerful polarity to god or a demigod.

Oddly, proof for The Christian satan/devil mythology is supposedly found in the ancient Jewish texts that were borrowed to create the bible. One can’t help but wonder how Christians came up with such a fantastically different interpretation of Gods assistant Satan in their theology.

Other hints about Satan’s role in human relations can be seen if you look at the name Lucifer. It’s meaning in the original tongue translates as Light bearer or light bringer. Essentially the bringer of enlightenment. The temptations of the Satan idea bring all of us eventually into Gods light. Hardly the Evil entity of Christian mythology.

Love and blessings
don

Answer 2

Lucifer is a total mistranslation of Hebrew scripture. Lucifer is a Latin name, not a Hebrew one. This is important, because christians get this name from the Hebrew scriptures in what they refer to as the "Old Testament" Isaiah 14:12 .

The scholars authorized by King James I to translate the Bible into then current English did not use the original Hebrew texts, but used versions translated largely by St. Jerome in the fourth century. Jerome had mistranslated the Hebraic metaphor, "Day star, son of the Dawn," as "Lucifer," and over the centuries a metamorphosis took place. Lucifer the morning star became a disobedient angel, cast out of heaven to rule eternally in hell. Theologians, writers, and poets interwove the myth with the doctrine of the Fall, and in Christian tradition Lucifer is now the same as Satan, the Devil, and, ironically, the Prince of Darkness.

In Roman astronomy, Lucifer was the name given to the morning star (the star we now know by another Roman name, Venus). The morning star appears in the heavens just before dawn, heralding the rising sun. The name derives from the Latin term lucem ferre, bringer, or “bearer, of light."

In the Hebrew text the expression used to describe the Babylonian king before his death is Helal, son of Shahar, which can best be translated as "Day star, son of the Dawn." The name evokes the golden glitter of a proud king's dress and court (much as his personal splendor earned for King Louis XIV of France the appellation, "The Sun King"). In the original Hebrew text, the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah is not about a fallen angel, but about a fallen Babylonian king, who during his lifetime had persecuted the children of Israel. It contains no mention of Satan, either by name or reference.

Another problem is that Satan was never considered a fallen angel by the Jewish people in what the Christians call the Old Testament. Ha Satan translates to "the challenger".

I asked a rabbi about this once, and he explained it in terms of an analogy. He said, "Think of the story of Willie Wonka. Slugsworth was considered to be 'evil' until it was discovered in the end that he was all the time in Wonka's employ".

The problems stem back to the Greek invasion of Jerusalem in the time between the "Testaments". The Greeks had a very strong concept of good and evil.. angelic beings and demonic beings.. when they invaded, they also began "translating" Jewish texts (there is still a day of mourning in judaism for when the Greeks mistranslated their sacred writings).

If you'll notice, in the "Old Testament" there are no demonic possessions whatsoever. Yet, the "New Testament" is rife with them. This shows the progression of the Greek influence over the people at the time. Not to mention that the New Testament is predominantly written in Greek.

Hell is also not a Jewish concept. If Jesus did exist, he would not have had a belief in Hell, as he would have been a Jew, growing up with the TaNaKh ("Old Testament"). He would not have preached such torment to people.

There simply is no reconciling this Satanic concept any other way.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to convince most christians that there could have been human errors by any historical evidence, jewish belief, etc.. because they believe their bible is divinely inspired and that God would not allow them to believe otherwise (even if they believe in free will).

Answer 3

Last first, no Satan is not in Hell now. Actually Hell will not actually exist until that point in the age to come following G-d's final judgment, after the millennial reign of Christ (which follows the battle of Armageddon). There is a waiting place for the dead called Sheol where all who die go to now. Sheol is a word that has come to be translated hell, as well as another word Gehenna (the hell of the future).

Revelations tells us what will happen to Satan in the future and there are aspects of what scripture teaches in Isaiah which shed light on that which happened before G-d created the world as we now know it.

While I'm familiar with the teachings on gap theory (between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2) and believe there is some relevance, frankly it's nothing to get hung up about. In this day and age it's far more important to concentrate on where you'll be when Yeshua comes back in the very near future. It's even more important for your life to be in line with what the word of G-d teaches about living with your fellow man in the here and now.

Answer 4

I am not Christian anymore, but was for many years. There is a lot of reading between the lines and even a lot of guessing about basic fundamental christian beleifs Not every Christian doctrine has a book chapter and verse.

An example of guessing is the story of Cain. He and Able were the only children of Adam and Eve, but when he killed Able and God cast him out to wonder the earth, he was afraid the other people would kill him. Where did these other people come from?

Things like this made me doubt the scripture was of God and without error. If you look into it, very much of what is beleived is merely guesswork.

Answer 5

Revelation is not solely about "future" things. Jesus dictated the book to John and said "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;".

Your primary question concerning Satan and his current habitation appears to be whether he inhabits hell. The answer is 'not yet'. He still inhabits the dimension of heaven, but at a future point, will be "cast to the earth", will then be relegated into chains for a thousand years, then be cast into the lake of fire.

The Bible makes frequent mentions of a place which serves as the holding tank for the dead. "Abraham's bosom" was in hades prior to Jesus setting the captives free. Now hades is occupied solely by the unrigheous dead.

Adam (and his descendants) were given dominion over THIS world, and even in death, this world is the only place anywhere that man had a place. Thus, "hades" is in the heart of the earth. It is also referred to as the bottomless pit, and the abyss. Where else can you have a pit with no bottom but the center of the earth.

It's not necessary that the heart of the earth be hollow to accommodate the souls of men. The soul is not a corporeal entity and does not require "space" to "fit in to".

Jesus is the "Second Adam" if you recall. Because he is God's only begotten son, those of us who are "born from above" into the family of Jesus Christ are not tethered to this earth, and at the demise of our corporeal body, we are free to join Christ in heaven.

It is the unrighteous dead that now inhabit the abyss, and will until the destruction of the current creation which will ultimately be cast into the black hole, the singularity, the "lake of fire" where gravity is so strong that time itself slows down so far that each second for us in heaven, it's an eternity in the black hole of the lake of fire.

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Answer 6

You are correct, Revelation was for the future.
The Apostle John wrote it in the year 96.
Revelation 1:10 mentions John saw things that were to take place "in the Lord's day."
There is good reason to believe that time period is now.
Therefore, the events of Revelation apply now.
Revelation answers your question about where Satan is.
Revelation 12:9
"So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him."
Satan is limited to the area of this planet.
Hell has been in existence since the first death ....Abel, I guess.
That is because hell is the grave, 6 feet under.
No fire. No torture.
Simply a state of non-existence.
Ecclesiastes 9:5,10 refers to the condition of the dead ....they are conscious of nothing. This includes the soul. Ezekial 18:4 says that in black and white.
There is more to be said but long answers are seldom read.

Answer 7

I aint got much education...and even I can see that you have no understanding of the story as found in The Bible... That is understandable though as there is nothing in The Bible for those Not of The Faith.... The "story" of satan is very clear in The Bible to those who take the time to go into it... It is not the "story" that has been embelished by mankind over they centuries... that is from,mostly, the roman church and it's fear campains beginning in the middle ages... No One of The True Christian Faith believes thoe exageations... because The Truth is bad enough....

Satan is waling this earth right now. His forces of evil are at work on this earth right now. satan is the prince of this earth. Evil is the dominate force on this earth. this will continue to be so untill God decides it is time to end it. The Only Protection from the forces of evil that any mortal can have comes from God.... thisd dose not come from the "elaborate" writtings of fear mongering roman curch dogma or from Dante or any other source but TheWord of God....

btw: Revelation is both past, present, and future... but it dose not concern you. Nor dose any thing else in The Bible of The True Christian Faith. There is nothing in The Bible for any one not open to the leading of The Holy Spirit. So you need not concern yourself for what is in The Bible. You are not bound by God's Law Only those who have submitted themselves to God are bound by God's law....

Answer 8

As the Bible was written "then" and Revelations is in the future. It is safe to say that we are living in Revelations now. However, if you read Revelations you will see that there were dreams and visions of things past that have an impact on the future.

Answer 9

devil’s fall from heaven is defined in Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:12-18. whilst those 2 passages are referring specifically to the king of Babylon and the King of Tyre, additionally they reference the religious ability that became in the back of those kings - devil. relating to while devil fell, those passages describe why devil fell, yet they don't specifically say while the autumn handed off. What we do comprehend is this: the angels have been created in the previous the earth (interest 38:4-7). devil fell in the previous he tempted Adam and Eve interior the backyard (Genesis 3:a million-14). devil’s fall, for this reason, would desire to have handed off someplace after the time the angels have been created and in the previous he tempted Adam and Eve interior the backyard of Eden. whether devil’s fall handed off a jiffy, hours, or days in the previous he tempted Adam and Eve interior the backyard, Scripture would not specifically say. Why did devil fall from Heaven? devil fell as a results of fact of delight. He had to be God, to not be a servant of God. be conscious the various "i will..." statements in Isaiah 14:12-15. Ezekiel 28:12-15 describes devil as an extremely eye-catching angel. devil became probably the optimum of all angels, the main eye-catching of all of God's creations. devil became not content fabric in his place. extremely, devil had to be God, to truly "kick God off His throne" and take over the guideline of the universe. devil had to be God, and apparently sufficient, that's what devil tempted Adam and Eve with interior the backyard of Eden (Genesis 3:a million-5). How did devil fall from Heaven? truthfully, a fall isn't an precise description. it may be lots extra precise to assert that God forged devil out of Heaven (Isaiah 14:15; Ezekiel 28:sixteen-17). mentioned source: Angels: decide for & Evil via C. Fred Dickason.

Answer 10

The Earth, Heaven, Hell, was created the same time. God created all of these in the beginning. Genesis chapter one.

Earth created: For the Glory of God & mankind to have fellowship with God. mankind failed!

Heaven created: For the Saved People. Jesus die for us. The savior.

Hell created: For satan and the fallen angles. Also, for the people who did not except the Plan of Salvation. Rejected Jesus.

God did not create Hell for Humans. He created Hell for the devil and the angels that follow satan. Now, most of mankind will not except the plan of salavation and will reject Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Punishment for that is" enternity in Hell" with the devil and the fallen angels. Mankind freewill choice to make Heaven or Hell. Saved or not Saved our decision. And we have to live all eternity with that decision.